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Special Features

Through Europe in a Tesla Model S part 1: Under the sea

Andy and Luke begin their epic 1,000-mile drive from London to Barcelona, starting with a voyage under the sea courtesy of the Channel Tunnel. (Part 1 of 3.)

4:49 / 11 March 2016

Transcript

[BLANK_AUDIO]
I have absolutely no idea where the hell to go.
I'm hungry, it's going to get dark soon.
[NOISE] I thought that was about to [INAUDIBLE]
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Last time we tried a road trip in an electric car, it went very wrong.
[MUSIC]
So naturally we thought lets try it again but over a thousand miles and under intense time pressure.
[MUSIC]
Daft pressure will come courtesy of mobile world congress.
A huge tech show we absolutely must not miss.
The show's in Barcelona, a thousand miles from where we work in London.
And we're planning to drive the distance in an electric car.
Stopping at six charge points along the way with an overnight stop in the French town if Orange.
That's a lot of driving, but we're not attempting this in just any electric car, no.
[MUSIC]
Meet the Tesla Model S, an all-electric luxury saloon.
Tesla's loaned us the Model S 90D, which packs all-wheel drive, auto-steer features, costs nearly $100,000.00 and whips up to 60 in just 4.2 seconds.
More importantly for us, it's got a maximum range of up to 340 miles and can suck up to 170 miles worth of power In a half hours charge, we will be using every trick up the cars sleeve and learning more about the state of electric driving today.
Let's roll.
Our journey begins in rain-filled London with a night drive down to our first milestone, the Channel Tunnel.
This piece of engineering connects the UK to France via an undersea railway that took over five years to build and was opened in 1994.
Our car is going over on the Eurotunnel shuttle, which moves an average of 30,000 customers in their vehicles across the sea every day.
[SOUND]
Welcome Mr.
Hoyle.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Ticket acquired, the car's parked up and Andy's promised a slap up breakfast in the convenient nearby cafe.
Was it open Andy?
It doesn't open until 6:00.
And what time is it now?
Five.
And what time did you insist on picking me up, Andy?
I want you to look into the camera when you say it.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Three.
[MUSIC]
Not a great start.
But it's not long to wait until we're driving the model S up onto the shuttle, and enjoying the novelty of being in a car, on a train, that's headed under the sea.
What more is you looking for under the sea.
Under the sea.
Did you ever go under the Euro Tunnel when you were a kid.
I think I did once, yeah.
I went on a school trip and that was really exciting.
Did you appreciate the feat of engineering that it is when you were that age?
No.
No, I just appreciated that I was on a train and that was it.
But now, the idea that I have driven onto a train and it goes under the sea is just mind blowing.
We would like to remind you that the safety beam
Flash photography and smoking are strictly forbidden on board.
35 minutes later, we're in France.
Now our attention switches to the cars dwindling battery.
So on the way out the tunnel, what are we doing now?
We are trying to find a charging point and I have absolutely no idea where the hell to go.
So we listen around to the.
We can't find Tesla's electric superchargers but then we spot them nestled in a rainy corner of a hotel car park.
It's time to refuel the Model S, if we can find the charging ports.
It's on the other side, give me a second.
[MUSIC]
[SOUND] [INAUDIBLE]
[NOISE]
[MUSIC]
[NOISE]
[MUSIC]
[INAUDIBLE]
other side, I think it's that [INAUDIBLE] or maybe it's [INAUDIBLE]
[MUSIC]
[SOUND]
That means it's charging.
It's hardly a dignified start, but we've hit a major milestone.
We're in front, and the car is charging.
Only 900 miles to go.
What could go wrong?
[MUSIC]
We're going to stop here for about 20 minutes to get a quick boost.
How did this happen?
Where are we?
[MUSIC]

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